Mass-produced

click photo to enlarge

There seems to be a general feeling that "hand-made" objects are individual, high quality and expensive. And often they are. However, in many cases a better description is individual, shoddy and expensive. Conversely, mass-produced objects are frequently looked down on for their ubiquity, uniformity, low cost and low quality. Sometimes that's the case. However, it isn't always so!

Take cars. The very best examples of automotive design are invariably the less expensive, mass-produced small vehicles - the VW Beetle and Golf, Mini, Fiat 500, Toyota Corolla, Citroen 2CV, etc. These are the innovative and "different" designs that moved car construction forwards. The low volume Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, etc, that so many drivers lust after, may have a larger proportion of hand-assembly and finishing, and are certainly lavishly styled, but they are rarely good examples of design. What's more their reliability is usually considerably worse than that of their diminutive brethren. It's a fact that much of the best design of today is produced by designers working for industrial companies that make mass-produced objects - from hair-dryers to cafe chairs.

I was reminded of this when an indoor watering can costing 35 pence came into my home recently. It is made of a single piece of moulded plastic. The spout is simply an elongated groove, and the handle is part groove, part tapering tube. It's a design that is stackable, and is remarkably strong, its rigidity coming from the curves and folds that give it a very sensuous shape. More to the point, it performs its primary task wonderfully well - a great example of inexpensive, thoughtful, mass-produced design! As I looked at it the other day I saw a photograph in its swelling curves and tight folds, and gave it a shadowy, high contrast black and white treatment to emphasise these elegant and seductive qualities. The other reason I chose black and white is that I can't stand its lime-green colour!!!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: Off

In praise of the unique

click photo to enlarge

I'm a fan of good industrial design. Objects like the anglepoise lamp, the Thonet No. 14 bentwood cafe chair, the Braun ET22 calculator, or the Dreyfuss 300 telephone, made attractive and functional design available to everyman (though in some cases it was artful copies that were bought!). There are those who denigrate that which is mass produced in favour of the "designer" label or the "one off". But most people are aware that good design and mass production are frequent bedfellows, and that aesthetic as well as economic benefits flow from this pairing.

But, however good our industrial products are, there is still a place for the hand-made. In fact the perfection and ubiquity of mass produced items seems to make us crave the individual, unique, even flawed products of craftsmen and artists. It may also account for the recent rise in home-based crafts such as collage, card and candle making, etc. There seems to be a fundamental human need to have hand-made things around us, not just out of necessity, but for deeper psychological reasons, perhaps connected with where we have come from as a species.

Today's photograph is a detail from a hand-made glass bowl, one of two recently bought from a gallery exhibition. The irregular pattern and colours of varying depths suggest the sea, and the way the lines swirl around and converge at the bottom of the bowl give a sense of movement - like water going down a plughole! The bowls have a matt finish on the exterior and are glossy inside. I set up some bright lights and reflectors around the bowl to highlight the the attractive design, and used a macro lens to capture a detail from inside.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f16
Shutter Speed: 1.0
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0EV
Image Stabilisation: Off